PFTW, and Iron Girl Del Mar Race Recap

Last week:
Tuesday - 8x400's, killed it.
Thursday - 3 miles tempo. Goal pace 9:56; actual 9:24. Killed it.
Saturday - was planning on doing a long run; ended up taking a rest day - I had a monster cold last week, I ran a half the weekend prior, and have another the next weekend. Rest day it was.
Sunday - Iron Girl Del Mar. Recap below.

Plan for this week.....
Monday - I dunno. Speed work or hills. One of them. I haven't decided.
Wednesday - easy 3
Thursday - Tempo
Sunday - Mission Inn Half. Maybe. If it rains, I'm out. I'm not that committed. (Sorry, ChaCha)

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Saturday, I trekked down to Del Mar to run the Athleta Iron Girl 5K. I was supposed to run with #1, in the Mother/Daughter division. But Sunday when I woke her up (at 4:40am...) she said she wasn't feeling well. Bummer.

I talked my local BFF into running with me, as well, so she met me at my place and we carpooled down at 5:30am.

Sure was early. And chilly.

We both had to pick up our packets, and it was super fast and painless.

We ran into Sarah, Nicole, and ChaCha almost right away.

I wore throwaway sweats and a fleece, but the bag drop was SUPER easy and fast, so I checked my ugly gear.

Nicole and Sarah (and Ashley!) were running the 10K; Snork, ChaCha, and I were running the 5K, which started a bit later... giving us plenty of time to scope out the set up...

There were REAL bathrooms, as well, all around the complex.

Outside the portopotties...

Plenty of beverages for the finishers (WIN - races that run out of water irk me!)

Also... note all the pink netting?! How cute is that?

Shiny!

It also gave us some time to get schooled by some chick wearing a HAT about showing appropriate respect for the national anthem. Noted. Thank you, obnoxious hypocrite.

Finallllly, our turn to line up. Iron Girl has chip timing, but for AG placement, the timing goes by gun time... so ChaCha scooted her tiny self up to the front. I hung out a bit towards the middle of the pack with Snork. The weather was chilly when we got there, but PERFECT for running.

I had a mini-meltdown last week when I realized iPod's weren't allowed, but apparently ChaCha and I were the only two following these rules. Feh.

Now.... and this is NOT a complaint about the Iron Girl event at all, just an observation about these chick-themed events.

People just don't know how to line up for a race. It's not something that's intuitive, apparently. I'm all for people coming out and moving themselves for 3.1 miles - regardless of pace, it's freaking fantastic that you're doing it. I am certainly no speedster. But if you're planning on walking..... stay. to. the. back.

meh.

Anyway, race started just fine, and we headed out. I thought the course was well marked, but apparently some people (see above, with the inexperienced chicks) got confused, and ended up running into oncoming runners (like me), and I had to stop and let them cross in front of me. They commented to me, that the race directors should be talked to. Um. No. You sould know the course, and follow the volunteers instructions to stay to the left. Goodness.

The course wound through the area adjacent to the Del Mar racetrack. There were out and backs, and the 10K'ers had a separate course that in parts ran parallel to the 5K course, which was fun, because I got to see Nicole, Sarah, and Ashley all KILLING it. (PS, Ashley, I was not just touching my boobs, I was reaching for my inhaler, sweartogod).

The course felt mostly flat, with the exception of one GIANT HILL. I'm lying, it was not a giant hill. It was a verrrrrry gradual incline, that seemed to last forEVER. Particularly when you've been skipping hill repeats to run 400's. (DUMB). But what goes up, must come down, right? That part didn't suck (well, the sandy parts did - it's really tough to keep your footing running around a corner down hill on sand).

Annnyway. So, my strategy for this originally was to run until I felt like I might puke. This was entirely because I didn't want to be the factor keeping #1 from placing, and we had a chance as a Mother/Daughter team if I ran HARD. But when she wasn't there.... I was far less interested in puking. Instead, I ran like I was running a tempo run - kind of hard, but not to the puke-point.

And my time reflects that. My official times are MIA (since I was on a team, and half of my team didn't run, the results don't get posted), so I'm using the times from my JogLog app on my phone.

Mile 1: 10:13
Mile 2: 9:57
Mile 3: 9:33
Mile .13: 1:14

Final: 30:54, 9:48 avg pace

Oh, look. That's just about dead on tempo pace.

It's a 2+ minute PR, at less than max effort. Pretty sweet.

Lessons learned: stop lining up in the middle/back. Stop. Also, maybe run a warm up before starting....

The finishers area was SUPER easy to navigate, which I freaking LOVE. When you finish a race, all you want is to get your stuff, and move along, right? It was wide open, plenty of water and juice, medals handed out, chips removed, all at a good distance from each other, so no bunching. LOVED it.

Afterwards, we headed out to collect our finishers breakfast...

(those are the Old Navy $15 compression tights. MAGIC.)

Final Verdict:

This was a FANTASTIC race. Everything was well organized, from start to finish. The 10K was $50, and the 5K was a SUPER REASONABLE $25. There were discount codes floating around as well. The swag did NOT suck, especially for the price:

I'll totally do this event again next year. If there's one in your area, DO IT.

Race redemption... it IS coming.

My race-day meltdown at mile 10.5 hasn't settled well with me.

I have ALWAYS had negative splits in my training runs. Always.

I've done the 13.1 distance 3 times already. I had two 11 mile runs in training, and two 10 milers.

There is no good reason I couldn't push through that nonsense.

Except for me just sabotaging myself all on my own.

I'm scratching my current training plan completely. Well, not COMPLETELY, completely. But I'm certainly changing things up.

Part of that changing is modifying my racing goals through the end of the year.

Tomorrow, I'm running the Chapman 5K with Team Sparkle, and all 3 of my kids. I know, I'm a crazy person. #1 is actually racing (I think), but #2, #3, and I will be run/walking for fun.

On October 30th, I'm running the Richard Leary 6-Hour Challenge, benefitting Tragedy Assistance Program for and Train 4 Autism. This is a 1 mile loop, and you just run until you... don't feel like it, I guess. I'll run whatever distance is on my training plan for the day, slow and easy. Just the way I like my runs. And my men. Just Kidding. Really.

November 6th, I am running Athleta Iron Girl 5K with #1. This one... I am planning on racing this one, hard. I haven't done speed work in a few weeks (one week off for The Shin, and another week for taper... and this week), so I don't know how much I can eek out, but we'll see. It will be a good gauge to see where I stand.

Followed immediately by Mission Inn Half on November 13th. You know that one, that I am pretty sure will kill me because it's sooooooo hilly?? (Chacha, that's for you). This one is strictly a training run. Slow and steady. No PR's will be set on this day.

Holiday Half 5K. This race is put on by the same folks that do Long Beach, so I'm anticipating a stellar race. This is my goal 5K. Speed work and hill repeats will be a strong part of my new training plan in the coming weeks, so I expect great things to happen. If they don't, I might just quit. (that's a lie, I'm too cheap to waste the registrations I've already paid for). The H and #1 are running this with me, along with my Internet BFF and her husband. (Of note, I need to find a baby sitter for #2 and #3 this day.... I don't know what I'm going to do with them while the rest of us are running. Poor logistics, there, me).

Operation Jack Half Marathon, December 26th. I'm toying with the idea of trying to PR here... it's a super flat course, and weather should be faavorable.... We'll see.

The only additional possibility in here is a trail race that I'm considering - 17K on December 11th. I've been itching to get into trail running, and this course is on my favorite hiking trail... hard to pass up. We'll see.

One of these... one of these has to be my magic race.

2012 is the Year of the Full Marathon. True story... that's happening. Multiple times. You can blame this girl for the Crazy.

As if the folks in SoCal weren't lucky enough.....

Local upcoming events that you should all do, because I will be:

1.
Team Sparkle is putting together a team to run the Chapman University 5K on 10/16 (link HERE). If they get a team of 30+ together, they've arranged a special discounted registration of only $25! You can let Team Sparkle know you're interested HERE, on their Facebook page! I will be running with #1 AND #2!!

2. Iron Girl Del Mar 5K with #1 on November 6!

This race is only $25 for the 5K, PLUS I've got a special discount code for an additional 15% off - for a SoCal race, that is SUPER reasonable! Use discount code CCIGDMJH for 15% off. Click HERE to register!

This is the part of the post where I normally tell you all about how I killed my pace goals from the night before. So, last night I went to the gym to do my 5 mile tempo. I wanted to do my mile warm up on the elliptical, because my shin has been bugging me - I've always had issues with shin splints, but usually it's just annoying, not really painful to the point where I don't run. But yesterday, my shin had been HURTING. And in one, very localized spot. So much so, that even the elliptical hurt. After 15 minutes on the elliptical, I thought it felt better, so I started to run. .25 mi at 10:11 pace, and I quit. It HURT. So, I'm icing, and stretching, and taping, just in case it IS still just jerk shin splints, and will re-assess tomorrow before I attempt my last long run before Long Beach.

Mother...

But this is a good look, right?

Yeah. You're jealous.

I am a racing fool....

So, I've updated my Come Run With Me tab once again....

In addition to Ragnar next April (did you see my contest?! Help name our teams! Link HERE), I will also be running the Iron Girl Del Mar 5K with #1 on November 6!

I've been on the hunt for a new 5K to test out the results of my RLRF speedwork, and this one falls at just the right time for me. (Sorry, men, vagina-havers only).

Jess at Blonde Ponytail just ran the Seattle event, and had a fantastic time - click HERE for her recap!


Seriously, check out her cute medal!

The 10K is $50, but the 5K is only $25! That is UBER reasonable for a 5K in SoCal.

Plus! Use discount code CCIGDMJH for 15% off. Click HERE to register!

Hope to see you there!